The Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Bucks are planning developments near their game venues, but with night-and-day approaches.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed how the Packers designed Titletown District — an unsubsidized, 34-acre mixed-use development. They started with a feasibility study and community engagement.

Local government and Packers officials committed to guiding principles:

» Build a vibrant neighborhood with desirable amenities and local businesses--not just bars and another "boring” mall, as St. Norbert College economics professor Kevin Quinn noted.

» Respect existing businesses, don’t replicate them.

» Create development that “gives back to the community” — after learning residents’ preferences.

» Include a public space — 10 acres — designed for everyone’s enjoyment, not just paying customers.

In contrast, Wisconsin’s Legislature, at the Bucks’ behest, has mandated that “public plazas” adjacent to their new arena can be used commercially only by the Bucks. They’ll be cash-corral clusters — subsidized by taxpayers, not public spaces.

Last spring, the Bucks presented glitzy “entertainment” mall sketches based on the underperforming Kansas City “Live!” Despite the still vague Bucks proposal, Milwaukee’s Common Council recently granted $47 million for the project, plus ceding a city-owned, $30 million parking garage — to be razed for their mall.

Unlike Green Bay’s inclusivity, Milwaukee skipped community involvement. Only one public hearing was held for citizens’ reactions — after the ugly-duckling deal was hatched and pronounced a swan. Perfunctory show-and-tell presentations were made, but officials never elicited citizen input about crafting this public-private project. Milwaukee’s taxpayers were merely expected to foot the bill.

Packers and government leaders say they don’t want local businesses “cannibalized.” In Milwaukee, Mayor Tom Barrett sidesteps the issue, blithely insisting, “You can’t have too many bars and restaurants, as long as they’re all walkable from each other.” No data supports claims that a multi-floor, block-long bar mall with mostly national chains will “grow the pie” for 70 existing arena-area pubs and eateries. Project boosters merely hope more residents and hotel guests will materialize to fuel demand--ignoring the actual market.

When planning Titletown, the Packers chose to create "something that was new, different and complementary.” The Bucks proposal in no way resembles that goal. The Packers’ plan emerged from the ground up — unlike the top-down scheme by New York-based Bucks owners — Jamie Dinan, Wes Edens and Marc Lasry — who amassed billions managing hedge funds.

Only one significant counter-demand was required of Bucks owners in exchange for 30 acres of prime public downtown land being handed over. They must pay to demolish Milwaukee’s 27-year-old Bradley Center. Nothing stipulates that any of the free land be used for the common good. The owners are further demanding that the city permanently “vacate” one block of North Fourth Street for their bar complex, an issue still on hold.

The Packers clearly have the public’s interests in mind for Titletown District. Milwaukee and the Bucks could still benefit, from a participatory process for arena-district development. That could be mandated in the state’s pending lease with the Bucks. Whatever’s built over a protracted period on former public land will be just as closely scrutinized as game results.

There’s been scant official concern expressed about Milwaukee’s thriving downtown hospitality market being poached. A “big-box” bar mall will inevitably be disruptive. It could also become the white elephant in the room — when the honeymoon’s over. That’s happened in Minneapolis, Memphis, Tenn., Glendale, Ariz., and elsewhere. Further, 89 percent of all U.S. pedestrian malls have failed. None has succeeded in an area with low foot traffic like the proposed Bucks “plaza.”

Milwaukee Bucks owners and city officials would do well to emulate the Packers on how to win one for the people.

Pat Small of Milwaukee is a lifelong sports fan and a semi-retired real estate investo.